THE  8ACREDNESS  OF  BUSINESS, 


COMMERCIAL  LIFE. 


By  REV.  CHARLES  P.  MASDEN,  D.  D. 


Stecfc 


REV.  CHARLES  P.  MASDEN.  D.  D. 


WISCONSIN    ST.    &    BROADWAY. 


MILWAUKEE,  \Vk.  Nov.  9,  1898. 

llc.r.  Charles  P.  Maschn,  Pastor  Grand  Ave.  M.  E.  Church. 
Milu'aiikce,  Wis. 

DEAR  SIR:  The  faculty  and  students  of  the  Spencerian 
nusitirss  College  have  by  unanimous  vote  instructed  me  to 
express  to  you  personally,  and  to  the  officers  of  your  church 
and  society,  their  appreciation  of  and  thanks  for  the  invita- 
tion so  kindly  extended  to  them  to  listen  to  your  sermon  on 
the  "Sacredness  of  Business,  or  Commercial  Life." 

They  were  greatly  ^leased  with,  and  impressed  by  the 
address,  which,  in  their  opinion,  should  be  widely  circulated 
in  the  interest  of  the  higher  ideals  of  business  life. 

It  being  the  special  design  of  this  institution  to  train 
young  people  for  business  pursuits,  it  is  a  duty  incumbent 
upon  us  to  promote  the  higher  standards  of  business  education 
and  character,  as  affecting  all  the  interests  of  human  society 
and  progress.  We  therefore  ask  you  to  furnish  us  with  a 
<-<>py  of  the  sermon  with  your  photograph  for  publication. 

Thanking  you  for  the  service  rendered  to  business  and 
business  education,  in  which  we  are  deeply  interested,  and 
with  best  wishes  for  your  usefulness  and  happiness,  I  am, 
Faithfully  yours, 

ROBERT  C.  SPEXCER, 


Robert  C.  Spencer,  £*/.,  President  of  Spencerian   <",,//,  «/<  «i 

iness  and  Finance,  .l//7"vn'/.vr,   }\'i*. 

DEAR  SIR:  Your  kind  favor  of  Xov.  9th,  conveying  the 
request  of  the  faculty  and  students  of  your  college  for  the 
publication  of  the  sermon  delivered  before  them  on  the  occa- 
sion when  they  attended  divine  service  in  my  church,  has 
been  duly  received. 

I  fully  appreciate  the  work  in  which  you  are  en  paired  in 
training  young  people  for  business  pursuits,  and,  believing 
that  higher  ideals  and  nobler  motives  than  mere  <i<iin.  should 
be  introduced  into  commercial  ethics,  I  sincerely  thank  you 
for  your  kind  offer  to  extend  the  influence  of  the  nn->age  be- 
yond the  hour  and  occasion  of  it-  delivery. 

I  congratulate  you  and  your  College  upon  your  great 
and  deserved  success,  and  wishing  you  continued  prosperity  in 
your  noble  work,  I  am, 

Your<  truly, 

C.  T.  MASDKN. 


Sacrebness  of  Business 


...  OR  .. 


COMMERCIAL  LIFE. 


By  REV.  CHARLES  P.  MASDEN,  D.  D. 


iiL'ce.-.-ity  and  utility  of  occupation  in  human 
life  cannot  be  called  into  question.  "Of  what 
did  he  die?"  asked  Alexander,  when  some  one 
told  him  of  a  friend's  death.  "Of  having 
nothing  to  do/'  was  the  answer.  "That  was 
enough  to  kill  even  a  general/'  replied  the  great  conqueror. 
St.  Augustine  said  "Nothing  is  so  laborious  as  not  to  labor." 
Aristotle  has  described  "Happiness  as  energy."  The  old 
Greeks  insisted  on  labor  as  a  social  end.  Solon  said,  "He 
who  does  not  work  is  handed  over  to  the  tribunals."  St.  Paul 
also  urges  labor  not  only  as  a  means  of  self-support  and  self- 
cult  urc  but  also  as  a  benefaction.  "Let  him  that  stole  steal 
no  more,,  rather  let  him  labor,  working  with  his  hands  that 
which  is  good,  that  he  may  have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth." 
St.  Paul  makes  labor  the  antithesis  of  stealing — "Let  him 
that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor." 


Labor  is  honorable  and  ennobling;  and,  business  may  be- 
come more  than  a  drudgery — more  than  a  livelihood — more 
than  occupation — a  dirini'  t-nUinij.  Someho\\-  the  impiv— 
sion  has  been  made  that  piety  is  for  Sunday  and  business  for 
week  days,  and  that  the  two  are  divorced — making  religion 
asceticism  and  business  \\orldliness,  and  the  belief  is  preva- 
lent that  the  devil  makes  the  be-t  master  on  exchange — that 
piety  and  worldly  success  are  antagonistic. 

My  design  in  this  address  is  to  lift  business  out  of  the 
realm  of  dishonesty  into  high  ethical  grounds — transforming 
the  secular  into  the  sacred — and  making  the  livelihood  a 
means  of  grace  and  a  benefaction. 

Ktiniiiifi  a  lirrli  In>nd,  in  the  competition  of  modern  soci- 
ety, implies  thought,  skill,  promptness,  truth,  honesty,  self- 
denial  and  the  exercise  of  all  the  manly  virtues.  He  who  is 
compelled  to  rise  early,  exert  himself  in  thought — to  be  self- 
deservin-r  and  temperate — who  must  carry  himself  with  self- 
respect — and  so  live  as  to  gain  the  self-respect  of  others,  is  a 
child  of  fortune.  lie  will  be  healthier  and  happier  and  more 
virtuous,  than  if  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  cat  and  drink  and 
sleep  and  parade. 

The  occupation  must  not  be  a  drudt/ery — druggery  is  to 
be  disesteemed.  If  a  man  toils  as  the  ox  toils,  he  may  count 
himself  brother  to  the  ox.  What  is  a  drudge?  It  is  the  man 
who  performs  work  by  the  hand  and  not  by  the  manhood  that 
is  in  him.  It  is  the  man  who  works — hating  his  work — a  man 
who  works  as  if  he  were  a  machine.  He  drudges.  He  is  not 
honorable.  But  a  man  who  works  with  his  hand  controlled 
by  his  head,  with  a  conscience  behind  his  work,  is  honorable 
and  hi-  labor  i-  full  of  both  manly  and  moral  quality.  Hence, 


any  honest  occupation  can  be  made  honorable  and  ennobling 
and  worthy  of  the  minis! ration  of  an  archangel. 

The  choice  of  an  occupation,  whether  husbandry,  mechan- 
ics, the  professions  or  mercantile  life,  depends  upon  the  en- 
dowments and  tastes  of  the  individual.  I  would  not  go  so 
far  as  Hazlitt,  the  essayist,  who  says,  "If  a  youth  has  no  apti- 
tude for  languages,  but  dances  well,  hand  him  over  to  the 
dancing  master,"  but  I  would  let  endowment,  bias,  affinity, 
taste  have  a  chance  in  determining  the  occupation  in  life,  so  as 
to  avoid  the  deformity  and  defeat  of  a  misfit — as  Lessing's  sar- 
casm defines  it: 

"Tomkins  forsakes  his  last  and  awl, 

For  literary  squabbles: 
Styles  himself  poet;  but  his  trade 
Remains  the  same — he  cobbles." 

Perhaps  in  no  other  calling  is  the  proportion  of  failures 
to  success  so  great  as  in  the  mercantile  profession;  only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  merchants  are  successful — all  others  becom- 
ing bankrupt  or  retiring  in  disgust.  Why  is  this?  Is  it  be- 
cause they  are  overwhelmed  by  sudden  disaster  which  no 
sagacity  could  have  anticipated  or  warded  off?  Is  it  because 
they  are  dishonest  and  in  overreaching  others,  overreach  them- 
selves? Is  it  because  of  partial  success,  they  become  inflated 
and  build  marble  palaces  and  indulge  in  champagne  suppers? 
In  some  cases  these  causes  may  answer  the  question,  but  as  a 
rule  it  was  because  they  went  into  business  without  a  business 
education  and  train  in;/.  Lawyers,  doctors,  ministers,  artists, 
mechanics  are  made  by  education  and  training — merchants 
are  not  made  bv  accident. 


So,  it  will  be  opportune  for  UK-  to  discuss  the  morale  of 
commerce  or  the  S(tcrr<lin'*x  of  Imxiness,  and  let  in  the  brighter 
light  of  gospel  truth  upon  the  subject.  Hence  I  invite  your 
attention  to  three  great  facts,  not  generally  emphasized  in  the 
business  world,  yet  essential  principles  in  business  life: 

(1)  Business  is  not  a  x/><'cul<tlion  but  a  science;  and, 
therefore,  is  lifted  out  of  the  realm  of  dishonesty. 

Risk  and  fraud  have  come  into  the  calculation  as  factors 
of  success  with  some  men;  but,  as  a  general  policy  it  would 
bankrupt  a  nation.  A  man  must  give  an  equivalent  in  work 
or  skill  or  thought  for  what  he  gets  or  he  is  a  robber  of  the 
public  good. 

While  one  man  grows  rich  by  speculation  an  hundred 
are  ruined.  Speculation  produces  nothing — adds  nothing  to 
the  common  good — only  transfers  money  from  one  pocket  to 
another.  Gambling  is  not  the  highest  art.  Chance  is  a  poor 
incentive  to  study  and  motive  to  activity.  To  look  upon  busi- 
ness as  an  accident,  a  chance,  a  game,  is  to  rob  it  of  its  high 
ethical  character.  There  will  be  no  careful  preparation  for 
laziness  life,  no  moral  character  to  maintain  and  dishonesty 
will  disfigure  all  trades.  To  imagine  God  blesses  such  trans- 
actions is  on  a  par  with  a  young  forger  who  prayed  for  success 
in  his  villainies. 

Mere  speculation — attempting  to  suddenly  get  rich,  with- 
out rendering  an  equivalent — cannot  find  any  moral  justifica- 
tion, and  is  sure  to  curse  the  individual  and  the  nation. 

In  settled  conditions  of  business  life  and  in  our  civilized 
social  relations,  the  chances  for  speculation  and  sudden 
wealth  are  diminishing  and  ability  and  integrity  are  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  the  surest  factors  of  success. 


Commerce  is  guided  by  laws  as  inflexible  as  those  of 
nature,,  hence  political  economy  should  be  a  study,  and  busi- 
ne-s  a  science  and  worthy  of  the  most  careful  and  exact  prep- 
aration. I  know  that  you  hear  a  great  deal  that  will  con- 
tradict this  theory  and  the  very  opposite  is  practiced.  If  a 
boy  has  a  bias  toward  and  love  for  business,  the  method  is  to 
take  him  out  of  school,  and  at  once  plunge  him  into  the  store 
or  office,  without  any  preliminary  preparation  or  future  in- 
struction, and  let  him  take  his  chances,  when  he  knows  noth- 
ing of  commercial  law,  book-keeping,  corporations  or  con- 
tracts, and  no  wonder,  after  years  of  hard  and  honest  accumu- 
lation, some  smart  rogue  cheats  him  out  of  all  his  possessions. 
He  is  defeated  for  want  of  information  and  knowledge  of  the 
laws  and  methods  of  trade.  You  might  as  well  expect  to 
learn  the  science  of  medicine  simply  from  the  practice,  with- 
out preliminary  study,  as  to  learn  business,  as  carried  on  to- 
day, by  c.i-jirricnce.  without  any  training  in  technical  business 
education. 

I  know  you  will  begin  to  quote  the  men  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  business,  and  began  by  sweeping  out  the  store,  and 
in  a  few  years  worked  their  way  up  to  the  head  of  the  firm 
and  became  merchant  princes.  But  you  must  bear  in  naind  the 
competition  is  different  to-day.  The  business  world  is  full  of 
trained  and  competent  business  men.  Besides,  your  men  of 
success  were  strong  in  natural  endowments  and  great  students 
of  business  principles  and  laws  and  methods.  They  were 
competent  judges  and  capable  of  forming  and  deciding  con- 
tracts and  agreements,  had  a  good  idea  of  commercial  law 
and  generally  acted  without  attorneys.  So  banish  the  heresy 
that  business  is  a  chance,  and  that  skill  and  thorough  training 


are  not  requisite.  More  and  more  business  has  become  a 
science,  requiring  skill  and  ability  and  int ferity:  and  dishon- 

!ia-  not  so  full  sway:  and.  a-  tins  thought  is  magnified, 
cheating  will  more  and  more  pa  —  away,  and  business  be  placed 
upon  high  ethical  grounds. 

(2)  liu-iiie-s  is  not  a  mere  lirrliliood  but  a  beneficence, 
and,  therefore,  lifted  out  of  the  realm  of  selfixltnr**. 

I  know  the  "bread  ami  butter"  question  is  supreme,  men 
mint  he  fed  and  clothed,  and  that  the  great  majority  rise  no 
higher  than  this  possibility,  Some  do  not  even  reach  this 
level.  Among  this  class  are  the  paupers  and  the  non-pro- 
ducers. Self-support  is  not  only  honorable,  but  self-respect 
cannot  exist,  without  it.  To  he  dependent  on  another  is  to 
dwarf  conscious  respectability.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
polite  beggary.  M very  young  man  and  woman,  who  has  come 
to  maturity,  ought  to  be  able,  especially  if  the  occasion  require 
it,  to  take  care  of  themscl 

Hut  while  every  man  must  look  after  himself  and  we  must 
not  relax  this  responsibility  and  respectability  of  livelihood 
or  self-care,  yet  all  this  should  be  a  preparation  for  true  benev- 
olence. Kvery  young  man  should  look  forward  to  the  time, 
not  only  when  he  can  take  care  of  himself,  but  also  when  he 
can  take  care  of  some  man's  daughter.  Marriage  is  a  great. 
morality.  Looking  forward  to  a  pure  and  happy  marriage, 
or  the  founding  of  a  virtuous  home — is  the  great  safeguard 
to  a  young  life.  Without  Christian  homes  there  can  be  no 
civilization  and  morality.  But  the  scope  of  a  man's  labor 
should  include  more  than  the  support  of  himself  and  /MX 
family,  the  spirit  of  beneficence  should  Mow  to  the  comniiniifi/. 
The  two  principle-  of  -elf-care  and  benevolence  are  co-or- 


10 


dinated,  and  work  togetlier  in  perfect  harmony.  Kach  makes 
the  other  fruitful.  You  cannot  take  care  of  yourself  wisely 
without  it.  They  are  reciprocal,  lie  who  thinks  only  of 
himself  clients  himself.  He  narrows  his  sphere.  Selfish- 
ness is  a  foe  to  happiness.  There  is  an  old  story  told 
of  an  Italian  nnhh\  who  placed  a  woman  in  a  little  niche  just 
large  enough  for  her  to  stand  in,  and  a  row  of  bricks  was  laid 
around  her  by  the  masons,  and  row  upon  row,  and  thus  a  wall 
encircling  her  rose  steadily  up,  and  finally,  when  the  last  brick 
was  laid,  she  was  left  standing  in  her  living  tomb.  Men  do 
the  same  thing,  with  golden  bricks,  until  they  are  smothered. 
All  the  man  that  was  in  them  is  dead.  Selfishness  is  a  living 
death — a  living  tomb.  The  duty  of  benevolence  runs  parallel 
with  acquisition.  Riches  bring  responsibilities.  Yet  there 
are  men  so  selfish  and  centripetal,  they  begrudge  their  taxes. 
I  hear  that  they  actually  lie  about  how  much  they  arc  worth, 
to  avoid  taxation.  They  are  mad  when  they  see  their  neigh- 
bor's bees  going  oft'  loaded  with  honey  from  their  flowers.  If 
they  could  they  would  conceal  the  perfume  from  their  or- 
chards in  summer  when  they  are  in  blossom.  It  is  a  shame 
for  a  man  to  have  a  good  farm  and  a  bad  road  in  front  of  it. 
It  is  a  shame  for  a  man  1o  shut  himself  up  in  his  affluence, 
saying,  "I  am  independent — let  others  look  out  for  them- 
selves." The  man  who  does  that  curses  himself.  If  he  does 
not  make  the  park  beautiful,  the  streets  luminous  and  the 
sewers  wholesome,  the  schools  good  and  the  community  wise 
and  moral,  he  depreciates  the  value  of  his  own  property. 
Hence,  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  the  men  who  begrudge 
contributions  to  the  public  good.  Therefore,  you  see  hiyli 
ii'i't  may  enter  into  lui-ine-s  life.  The  honor  and  respect- 


ability  "f  >elf-support  BO  a-  not  to  In-  a  robber  of  tlu-  common 
.  The  formation  and  support  of  a  happy  homo  and  a 
virtuous  family.  The  ability  to  add  something  to  the  welfare 
of  men  and  the  good  of  the  community — the  providing  for  the 
comfort.-  of  men  in  beautiful  parks,  clean  street-,  healthy 
sewerage,  pun-  \vater.  good  schools  and  useful  churches.  The 
ability  to  help  the  unfortunate — hospitals  for  the  sick,  home- 
for  the  aged,  orphanages  and  asylums,  and  all  possible  shelter 
and  protection  for  the  suffering  poor.  What  high  motives — 
What  noble  callings— What  grander  sphere  can  employ  t li- 
abilities and  industries  of  men  than  the  honest  accumulation 
ami  proper  distribution  of  wealth? 

(3)  Hii-mess  is  not  a  senilnrilif,  but  a  tlirinc  misi 
and.  therefore,  is  lifted  out  of  the  realm  of  mere  rnnd-rinliam. 
It  i-  -a.-red.  It  is  religious.  It  is  a  means  of  grace.  It 
i-  a  -teward-hip.  It  is  building  for  eternity,  and  laying  up 
nva-iin-  in  Heaven.  A  New  England  merchant  waited  on 
his  pa>tor  and  expressed  a  desire  to  do  some  special  religious 
work — wishing  that  he  could  leave  busines-  and  talk  all  the 
time  to  men  about  religion.  The  pa-tor  said.  "Go  back  to 
your  .-tore  and  sell  goods  for  Christ,  and  let  the  world 
see  that  a  man  can  be  a  Clirl*li<ui  in  Ir/nJi'."  Year.-  afterwards 
the  merchant  rejoiced  that  he  had  followed  the  advice.  The 
merchant  i- dead — but  the  great  society  that  he  founded,  with 
a  national  reputation,  and  the  <;>ll<><j<'  which  he  endowed,  send- 
ing forth  yearly  its  da--  of  trained  men,  both  of  which  re- 
ceived his  noble  hem-factions,  are  still  feeling  the  result  of 
the  wise  advice  of  the  pa-tor  and  the  wise  decision  of  the  mer- 
chant. Let  11-  look  into  this  ijuestion  of  the  divine  mission 
of  bu.-iiie-:  (ai  It  i- a  -ivat  school  for  rlnintrli-r.  < 'lnir<i<-h<r 


is  a  moral  structure,  \vliich  ha-  conic-  top -I  her  with  the 
of  years,  a  certain  combination  of  ruling  motive.-,  a  certain 
bend  of  will,  a  peculiar  set  of  emotional  currents,  a  peculiar 
.-entinieiit.  tastc>.  judgment — all  of  which  grows  more  and 
more  fixed  and  distinct  in  us  as  the  days  pass  and  which  our 
friends  mark  and  noie.  di-ciis<  and  classify,  criticise  and  esti- 
mate. This  character  will  remain  the  same  in  Heaven  as  here. 
We  shall  have  the  same  likes  and  dislikes,  same  sentiment-. 
same  tone,  same  tendeneie-.  -nine  movements  of  feelings,  char- 
acteristics, mannerisms.  Before  the  Judgment  Bar  our  friernU 
will  say,  ''How  like  himself."  This  character  which  is  to  en- 
dure forever  is  the  result  of  a  business  life;  of  Itonrxtij  amid 
chances  of  cheating;  of  fid  el  Hi/  amid  opportunities  for  self- 
gratification;  of  indu.-try  amid  temptations  of  ease;  of  tem- 
perance amid  luxury:  of  humility  amid  plenty  and  prosperity; 
of  gentleness  amid  provocations;  of  forgiveness  amid  insult. 
Plenty  of  opportunities  and  means  for  self-culture  in  all 
Christian  graces  in  business  life.  Business  men  may  train 
one  man  for  Heaven  and  another  for  hell.  You  remember 
the  picture  of  our  Lord,  "Two  women  shall  be  grinding  at  the 
mill — one  shall  be  taken  and  the  other  left.  Two  men  shall 
be  in  the  field — one  shall  be  taken  and  the  other  left."  Every 
single  circumstance  identical.  They  work  at  the  same  trade, 
ri-e  the  same  hour,  dress  alike,  paid  alike,  pass  life  on  the 
same  level,  nothing  oidinirdlij  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the 
other.  On  and  on  they  go,  hand  in  hand  and  face  to  face  up 
to  the  last — and  lo — one  is  for  Heaven  and  the  other  for  hell 
— "One  taken — the  other  left."  It  was  out  of  doing  the  same 
thing  that  one  grew  ready  for  the  Lord  and  the  other  dark- 
ened into  a  slothful  servant.  The  character  that  is  to  live  in 
(ilory  is  developed  in  the  sphere  of  business  here. 


do  Bu-iue—  i>  not  only  a  school  !'<>r  character,  but  also 
aru  of  grace  to  lift  the  thoughts  and  soul  to  God.  The 
counting-room  may  become  a  Kethel,  and  the  desk  a  pulpit. 
The  spiritual  man  spirituali/es  all  places,  all  scenes,  all  occa- 
sions. He  often  prays  for  divine  guidance  in  great  decisions 
and  thus  links  his  office,  by  the  golden  chain  of  prayer,  to  the 
throne  of  Heaven.  He  often  consults  his  Elder  Brother,  the 
head  of  the  firm.  Angels,  all  unseen,  watch  his  transactions. 
His  thoughts  are  not  secularized — not  degraded,  and  he  is 
his  Lord's  representative;  and  all  his  business  transactions  are 
occasions  for  becoming  more  and  more  intimate  with  his  Lord. 
Hi.-  activities  become  wings  of  devotion.  His  vision  of  the 
Christ  remains  with  him  while  he  does  his  duty.  You  re- 
member Longfellow's  picture  of  the  Mediaeval  Moid- — pray- 
ing in  his  cell,  and  a  vision  of  his  Lord  came  to  him  and  he 
revelled  in  the  fellowship  of  such  a  Guest — but  just  then  the 
convent  bell  rang  out  the  hour  of  noon,  when  it  was  the 
monk's  duty  to  go  and  feed  the  hungry  poor  at  the  convent 
gate — and  the  question  rose  in  his  mind,  "\Vould  the  vi-iou 
remain?  Would  the  vision  come  again?"  lie  left  the  glori- 
ous vision  to  go  and  do  his  duty. 

'•Like  the  gate  of  l'aradi<e 
Seemed  the  convent  gate  to  rise. 
Like  a  sacrament  divine 
Sci-med  to  them  the  bread  and  wine," 
as  he  fed  the  hungry  poor. 
At  length  returning — 

"He  beheld  the  convent  bright 
With  a  supernatural  light 
Like  a  luminous  cloud  expanding 
floor  and  wall  and  ceiling  — 

14 


But  he  paused  with  awe-struck  feeling 
At  the  threshold  of  his  door. 
For  the  vision  still  was  standing 
As  he  left  it  there  before — 
When  the  convent  bell  appalling 
From  its  lofty  belfry  calling — calling, 
Summoned  him  to  feed  the  poor — 
Through  the  long  hours  intervening 
It  had  waited  his  return, 
And  he  felt  his  bosom  burn 
Comprehending  all  the  meaning 
When  the  Blessed  vision  said 
'Hadst  thon  stayed,  I  must  have  fled.'" 

The  vision  of  the  Christ,  the  fervor  of  the  .Soul,  the  lux- 
ury of  divine  fellowship — are  not  dissipated  but  kept,  by  a 
life  of  duty — by  Christian  activity.  l>y  fidelity  in  business,  as 
the  Lord's  stewards. 

(c)  Not  only  can  business  develop  character  and  be- 
come the  means  of  grace — but  the  imniorlal  and  eternal  ele- 
iiintt  comes  into  it,  and  the  rewards  6f  Heaven  transform  it, 
so  that  its  secular  character  blends  with  the  sacred,  and  it  is  a 
divine  mission.  I'nless  this  is  the  case,  business  will  be  de- 
graded into  a  mere  secularity  and  the  veil  of  materialism  will 
dim  the  vision  of  the  soul.  No  man  can  truly  believe  in  im- 
mortality who  is  not  living  for  immortality.  He  who  is 
without  passion  cannot  believe  in  enthusiasm.  He  who  is 
blind  has  no  conception  of  the  stars.  A  soul  plunged  in  the 
sensual  cannot  realize  the  spiritual.  When  the  whole  ener- 
gies are  given  to  this  world,  the  world  to  come  cannot  be  a 
reality.  Not  so  with  him  who  is  liring  for  Heaven — whose 
life  is  spiritual  who  often  by  faith  and  hope  makes  excur- 


9  t<>  tin1  immortal  world — ho  ha<  a  transcendent  coiu-ep- 
tion  oi  immortality  a-  ival  as  physical  life  here. 

The  motive  of  eternal  reward  and  the  power  of  the  in- 
visible must  touch  us  and  sway  us  and  inspire  us  in  the  activ- 
ities of  human  life — or  life  will  break  down  before  we  come 
to  victory.  Every  other  motive  is  too  small,  too  circum- 
scribed and  too  feeble  to  sustain  the  soul  up  to  the  point  of 
conquest  in  this  mortal  struggle. 

You  must  throw  open  the  pearly  gate  and  let  u-  have  a 
vision  of  the  throne  and  the  crown  or  you  dwarf  character. 
degrade  work,  dim  our  hopes,  and  rob  life  of  proper  mothe 
and  enduring  power,  and  heroic  effort.  If  all  labor  is  lost 
who  can  have  the  courage  to  toil?  If  immortality  is  not  our 
goal  and  Heaven  our  reward,  who  can  hope  and  endure  and 
conquer?  Ambition  would  die.  Heroism  falter.  Hope  grow 
pale  and  cease  her  flights;  and  human  life  would  lie  a  gloomy 
M-eiie.  Throw  open  the  gate  of  Immortality  and  let  its  light 
fall  upon  the  fields  of  human  toil  and  the  pathway  of  human 
Borrow,  ami  you  t ran- form  the  -ceiie  and  make  Karth  a  suburb 
•  f  the  N'ew  .Irnisalem. 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


